Fallen Tigers
by Bal187
Summary: Follows the story of Cpt. Tigris, member of the Magical Law Enforcement Hit Squad, from his arrest of Sirius Black to the ultimate fall of his career. More to come!
1. Default Chapter

It had been several years since I had been in contact with anyone from the wizarding world. Sure, they still hunted me, but that didn't necessarily constitute contact. No, I was indeed a marked man for all wizards. They called me dangerous, told their children stories, labeled me a madman. Mad? No, I'm not mad. Though, the way I live – alone, dark, on the edge – most men would go mad. But this has been my life, my choice. I could go back, but I suppose they would arrest me, try me, send me to Azkaban… But I wouldn't want that, would I? After all, I have a lot of work ahead of me.

My name is Aecus Tigris. My former employers were those of the Ministry for Magic. There I was a captain in the Magical Law Enforcement Hit Squad, the wizard equivalent of a Muggle police captain. I had a long running career. I was a member of the same squad that had apprehended Sirius Black, though how much good that had done was shown later on. I was promoted to Captain after that arrest, when my superior had gone insane at the sight of all the mangled Muggle bodies that Black had strewn across the street. There, I led a fairly slow couple of years. Three years later, Black had done the impossible- he broke out of Azkaban prison, and we were charged with bringing him back. Coordinating with the Aurors and those vile Dementors, we scoured the earth for Black. Apparently the Dementors found him at Hogwarts but lost him again. Can't trust those bloody things.

Anyways, after that fiasco, life seemed to have settled down again. It was a month after Black had escaped Hogwarts, in the early summer, when everything went wrong.

We received a tip from one of our reliable sources that a group of remnant Death Eaters were planning to raid a few Muggle houses, in the outskirts of London. With the escape of Black still on our minds, we planned to come back to the Ministry with something good, thus ensuring our positions on the squad. So a group of four, myself included, set out that night of June 30th to capture some Death Eaters. We arrived at one of the addresses given to us, where we found nothing. We apparated to another address, and nothing again. We got to the fourth address when we realized something was wrong.

Lights were flickering inside the house, which made no sense, because the house obviously had no electricity, so there was no need for lamps or a fire. Looking closely, I saw that all the windows were alight with dancing light. _The house was on fire!_ A loud braying laugh broke through the air, and the front door burst open, and fell off its hinges. One by one, a group of black-clad figures stepped out of the house, laughing crazily. Their wands were out. I quietly told my squad to find some cover and get their wands out. This was not going to be clean. Five of us against four of them, and we had no license to kill. These four, however, would not care what they did to us. They had no red tape binding their hands.

The four walked down the porch steps and stood on the front lawn. One of them stretched his arms and spoke.

"Killing Muggles always makes me tired. Let's head back to your house, McNair. I could use some more drink." One of my squad members stirred, but I raised my hand, silencing him.

Another took a flask out of his robes and drank it down, and threw it through the front window of the house.

"Let's go, McNair. What are we waiting for?"

The one named McNair spoke. "Nothing. I want to see this house collapse, and crush those pathetic little Muggles."

"They're already dead, McNair!" I bowed my head in frustration- we were too late. "The other Muggles will be here to put out the fire soon!"

"Are you afraid of Muggles, Nott? But if you are indeed scared, we can leave." They all put away their wands, and this had been the moment I had been waiting for. Giving a quick hand signal, my squad jumped out from the cover, wands withdrawn and pointed at designated targets.

"Freeze right there!" I bellowed, and they jumped, startled.

One of the Death Eaters reached for his wand, but my Lieutenant, a man named Gordon Walsh was a lot faster than he was, and that Death Eater was soon sprawled on the ground, smoke rising from his stunned body.

"Anyone else want to try that?" I asked. Might as well weed out the heroes first. They all raised their hands slowly, and we all approached our quarry.

"You'll pay for this, Mudblood!" one of them hissed. The slight had obviously been directed at me, since the rest of my squad looked at me.

"Mudblood? You must know me then, scum. Tell me, how is that?" I asked.

"I know you, Tigris. I know all about you, and that mother of yours. Filthy little Muggle she is. I even suggested that we try her house tonight, but killing such a feeble item doesn't seem sporting enough." This was the man named Nott speaking. I looked at him for a few seconds, then walked towards him in particular. The rest of my squad stepped back- they knew what was happening. I grabbed Nott by the collar, reared my fist back and hit him in the face once, twice and a third time and he fell to the ground, howling in pain. The rest of the Death Eaters backed away, too, while I continued to kick Nott in the stomach while he lay crying on the ground. "You know what the Muggles call this?" I yelled at Nott. "Street-fighting! I actually enjoy this more than using a wand, you know!"

"Captain!" I heard, though barely. There was a slight ringing in my ears from all the anger I was feeling. I looked up at my squad, half of whom were facing the other way, their wands pointed at an unseen threat. I looked harder in the darkness, and I saw it- five more hooded figures.

"Kindly step away from Nott, Tigris. I would hate to have to explode you into several different pieces." I recognized the voice immediately, from all the times I had seen the scum inside the Ministry.

"Malfoy!!" I pointed my wand at him immediately, but foolishly so. As soon as my back was turned, I heard the rustle of robes, and turned to see my original prey had gotten their wands back. My squad was now outnumbered almost two to one, and caught in the middle. I knew this was the end.

The laughter from the Death Eaters continued. I heard the crackling of the fire behind me. I slowly re-joined my group, and the Death Eaters began walk closer. I looked back to see Nott get up, blood leaking from his nose and mouth.

Malfoy was about 10 feet away when he said, "Take them!"

I had been waiting for this, and dropping to one knee, I pointed my wand at the closest Death Eater, who I stunned in the stomach. I quickly turned and pointed the wand at McNair, but the spell missed, and I in turn was hit by a glancing stunner. As I fell to the ground, I saw Walsh lying on the ground, his face muddy and his eyes blank and lifeless. I could still see and hear when I hit the ground, and I felt the falling of bodies beside me. It was obvious that my squad had been taken when the shouting of spells vanished in the air. My breathing became heavy and labored, I knew I was going to blackout soon. I heard Malfoy and McNair beside me.

"Shall we kill this one?" asked McNair.

"No. I'm going to make an example of this captain," said Malfoy. "Do you hear that, Tigris? Your buffoonery will help us beyond anything you can imagine. I shall see you in court, captain."

To Be Continued


	2. Chapter 2

Fallen Tigers

Chapter 2

I awoke in glimpses. My mind shifted in and out of consciousness, while I felt my body being carried by an invisible force. I heard voices, but was too disorientated to make them out. I tried to force my eyes open, but the lights above me pierced into the back of my skull like a knife. I quickly shut them, and focused instead on hearing what was going on. I felt naked, helpless, especially without my wand, and especially bound to this stretcher. I began to discern separate sounds as different people, and the conversations started to make sense.

"Severe nerve damage, this one has. Good thing they brought him here to St' Mungo's."

"He won't be staying here long. He's under arrest. We'll be taking him to Azkaban the minute he's healed. A lot of good it's going to do him there."

_Arrest?_ My mind had frozen. I made to get up, to push my way through, but I felt a sharp jab underneath my ribs and the passing of electrics to my body. I convulsed on the stretcher, and my mind was going at light speed now.

"Stay on the stretcher, you filth!" one of the voices spat. And for good measure, he jabbed me again in the chest, and I writhed on the stretcher.

"Please!" pleaded one of the voices. "Stop it! Will you kill him before we have had a chance to heal him?"

"Quiet, you! This falls under the direct jurisdiction of the Minister for Magic. Unless you don't like your job, I suggest you patch him up and send him our way. Understood?"

I finally recognized the voice. It was Commissioner for Aurors, Red Madgewick. Why was he here? Why was I under arrest? The questions swam around my mind, and when I tried to open my eyes, I felt a slight rap on my forehead and my eyes closed again, into a dreamless sleep.

I awoke again, several hours later. My arms and legs were bound by some form of tether, and a small wand was zipping around the room, by an invisible force. I watched it zoom around, until letting my head collapse back onto the bed. My throat was hoarse, I needed water. But firstly, I needed answers. Like why I was under arrest. I closed my eyes, I needed to think. _What happened that night? _McNair and Malfoy had gotten the best of me. This had to be their doing, I knew. Who else?

"Wake up, you sack of shit." I opened my eyes immediately, and there stood Commissioner Madgewick. Other than having a really crappy name, he was also a real hard-ass, and was always yelling at subordinates, but the man was a bully and coward in every sense of the word. Heavy-set, balding, and extremely insolent to everyone he looked at. Behind him were two Aurors, one who I knew by name: Alastor Moody. I didn't know him very well, just by reputation. And a very long and colorful reputation it was. I closed my eyes again. I would get no answers from Madgewick. He would do nothing with me but hurt me physically. I had seen it before.

"I said wake up!" he shouted. I remained still and my eyes closed. What would he do, take me out of bed and beat the answers out of me?

The heavy footfalls that followed apparently answered my question. "Take him out of bed!" he yelled. I opened my eyes to face my new opponents. It was Moody and the other Auror, who had their wands withdrawn. Moody turned to face Madgewick.

"Are you sure this is wise, Commissioner? He is, after all, a decorated member of the Law Enforcement community. It would seem wrong to hurt one of our own."

Madgewick snarled, as if he would like no better than to turn on Moody. But he wouldn't, I knew, because he was weak. "You don't know the charges, Moody, so I suggest you do as I say!"

"Perhaps you might like to tell me the charges, Madgewick?" I asked. They all startled. They had no idea that I had been awake the whole time. "That is indeed customary by our laws, is it not?"

Madgewick's face turned a brilliant shade of red. He looked as though cardiac arrest was just a minute away. "Going to teach me laws, murderer? That'll be the day! I'll have them throw you in Azkaban for life!"

The word _murderer_ came as a bit of a shock, but I recovered quickly. "Murderer? Indeed, Madgewick. And who am I to have murdered?"

"You know full well! I spoke to the Minister, he says there is no chance you'll escape these charges, you snake!"

"Perhaps you could run the charges by me again. It is legality, of course. I would hate to see your case get thrown out by the Wizengamot just because you didn't follow some technicalities."

Madgewick seemed to be getting redder and redder, but he reached into his robes and withdrew a scroll. "Since you were unconscious at the time of your interim arrest, I have been given the pleasant duty of reading you your charges." Unfolding the scroll, he read with a smile growing on his horrid face. "You, Aecus Tigris, are charged with the murders of Gordon Walsh, Jonathan Clayton, Daniel Boone and Clay Smith. I have been instructed to place you under arrest when your healing was completed. I have been instructed----"

I didn't hear what else he had to say. My mind began buzzing. I was under arrest for the murder of my squad mates? What was going on?


End file.
